"Stranger, if you
passing meet me and desire to speak to me, why should you not speak
to me? And why should I not speak to you?" –Walt Whitman

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He was always in the
same spot. The caverns were damp, dark; they smelled of must and
magic, old magic. Odd patches of fire fungus glowed here and there on
the walls, and their dim light cast shadows that danced to an unholy
sonata; a festival to welcome the dead and decaying. Beyond them lay
bottomless pools of water, ones that had no beginning and knew no
end. Occasionally, through the darkness of the marias flashed a
streak of silver-blue; the blink of moonlight against mercury. But
then the moment passed, and the seas were once more empty, painfully
empty. All but for the eyes, the eyes that were always watching from
beyond the murky depths of the waters. She couldn't see them, but
she knew. She had always known.

He never looked up at
her approach. She never expected him to. Together, they looked out
over the emptiness. The emptiness looked back at them with a
"no-care" laugh, but they did not hear. They were listening to
the siren's song. Honeyed voices spoke of noble deeds, of heights
yet to be ascended, of the joy that was something new.

She knew what
liars the voices were.

So many questions
pleaded their cases during those sessions, so many alternate lives
begging to be known. "Where do you come from?" "What was so
horrible that you fled from nowhere to steal a defenseless creature
because you had to begin again?" "Why do I keep finding you, or
is it that you keep finding me?" "Where do you go?" "Why are
you still here?" And last, and always, "What is your name,
stranger?"

And in the end, she
asked nothing at all. But there was always such wondering.

She had no liking for
him. One would think that after all this time, all this war, there
would finally be a hand extended in an offering of truce; but both
held fast to stony silence. There would be no forbidden tryst, not
even a chance at friendship. No, she did not think she much liked his
company at all. And yet she still returned to that place, every
Tuesday and Thursday. She didn't know why. Perhaps this was the
thing that her mother had once spoken of, The Ties That Bind.

And though many resisted, all were tied…

There was always a
distance between the two. Only a few feet, but in that watchful place
a few feet were all that mattered. And yet she would often turn and
look at him. She'd look at the tattered red jacket, the pale legs
lacerated with scratches from needles and bramble, the hopelessly
tangled scarlet mane. The wicked eyes that were no longer
intimidating, only tired and sad. She would look at him, and wonder
what had gone so wrong.

Together they sat while
the universe held its breath, in that place that had fallen back into
timelessness. There were questions that burst at their seams to be
asked, there were answers that desperately needed saying. But it was
all right, these two could wait. The battle was over. They had time.
They had all the time in the world.

Once, only once, he
broke it. His voice was hoarse from disuse. "Why do you keep coming
here?"

The truth spoke itself.
"You're the only one I have left." So many meanings, so many
things that could not bring themselves to be said. These seven words
did their best to speak them all.

His expression did not
change. "The only one what?"

Nor did hers, but the
words laughed at themselves. "If we knew that. Wouldn't we be
somewhere then."

Someday, she would ask
his name. Someday, Someday, they both lived for Someday.

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Author's Note: This
is a bizarre one-shot about the girl main-character in Pokemon
Crystal, and the red-haired rival. The first time I played that game,
and the policeman asked what his name was, I thought it was serious
in that his name was , so I called him that. I did that for about
five different games, until I finally figured out that yes, it was
okay to call him something else. But by then, he was , nothing
else would do. It's always bothered me that we never find out
anything about him. Where he came from, what is he doing here. I've
had this idea for a few weeks now, and I can't remember how it got
to me in the first place. Yes, this takes place in the Dragon's
Den, after she's battled him for the final time. You can find him
there on Tuesdays and Thursday (or so I've been told).

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